IndiGo today said it was not in "talks" with any airline including Qatar Airways for a stake sale, a month after the gulf carrier's chief executive Akbar Al Baker expressed his desire to invest in the Indian company.

"Indigo is not even in talks with Qatar...The question does not arise. Its kind of them (Qatar) to say that...

"Its a decision not happening at my level.. We're not in talks with anyone," IndiGo President Aditya Ghosh told reporters on the sidelines of an event here.

NEW DELHI: As many as 73% of the snag-prone Pratt & Whitney (PW) engines powering the 26 Airbus A-320 new engine option (Neo) currently with Indian carriers have been replaced by the US aerospace company.

Top aviation sources say PW has changed 38 engines in India so far on planes of IndiGo and GoAir — which use the combination of A-320 Neo and PW engines — due to a spate of technical snags in the equipment since last year.

IndiGo and GoAir currently have 21 and five A-320 Neos, respectively.

Of the 52 PW engines on the 26 A-320 Neos in India so far, 38 — 73% — have been changed.

"The changed engines belong to the first lot of planes delivered to the airlines. As problems arose in its engines for the A-320 Neo globally, PW started making changes.

So the problems, which are yet to be contained fully, were more in the first lot of engines and they needed to be changed. The incidence of snags has gone down after the engines were changed on such a large scale," said a source.

IndiGo — Airbus' biggest customer of the A-320 Neo with 430 of these planes on order — and GoAir did not comment on the massive engine replacement by PW.

AI also uses A-320 Neo but uses CFM engines and so will Vistara when it gets its Neos.

"This is an issue that must be addressed by PW. We will not comment on this," said an official of one of these airlines.

In a statement, PW said it "with the support of Airbus, is actively working with our customers in India and we are supporting them in their daily operations.

The PW PurePower GTF engine employs advanced technology and has been in operation for more than one year. It has more than 100,000 hours of passenger service and is utilized by 13 operators flying 250 flights per day to over 100 destinations on four continents."

IndiGo, India’s largest carrier by domestic market share, announced further expansion of its International services yesterday. The airline announced next set of flights to Doha and flights between Bengaluru & Singapore. The flights will be effective 30th June 2017.

Rival Jet Airways has started flights between these two cities in December 2016. While Jet Airways operates a day time departure, IndiGo has opted for a late evening departure from Bengaluru and early morning departure from Singapore.

IndiGo had launched services to Singapore with flights from Delhi & Mumbai, only to scale it down to a single daily departure from Chennai. The airline started second daily Chennai – Singapore flight in March’17._________________www.networkthoughts.in

IndiGo, India’s largest carrier by domestic market share, announced further expansion of its International services yesterday. The airline announced next set of flights to Doha and flights between Bengaluru & Singapore. The flights will be effective 30th June 2017.

Rival Jet Airways has started flights between these two cities in December 2016. While Jet Airways operates a day time departure, IndiGo has opted for a late evening departure from Bengaluru and early morning departure from Singapore.

IndiGo had launched services to Singapore with flights from Delhi & Mumbai, only to scale it down to a single daily departure from Chennai. The airline started second daily Chennai – Singapore flight in March’17.

I had taken the 9W flight from BLR to SIN and back in Jan. Load factors were in the 70-80% range. However what was interested was, that a majority of the pax were connecting onward to 9w code share flights on QF, GA,NH, KE and VN. I myself was flying onward to CGK on a 9W codeshare flight with GA. With Jetstar and Fiji codeshare, these numbers are bound to grow.

I am not sure if the BLR-SIN O&D numbers are sufficient to sustain a daily flight for 6E.

IndiGo, India’s largest carrier by domestic market share, announced further expansion of its International services yesterday. The airline announced next set of flights to Doha and flights between Bengaluru & Singapore. The flights will be effective 30th June 2017.

Rival Jet Airways has started flights between these two cities in December 2016. While Jet Airways operates a day time departure, IndiGo has opted for a late evening departure from Bengaluru and early morning departure from Singapore.

IndiGo had launched services to Singapore with flights from Delhi & Mumbai, only to scale it down to a single daily departure from Chennai. The airline started second daily Chennai – Singapore flight in March’17.

I had taken the 9W flight from BLR to SIN and back in Jan. Load factors were in the 70-80% range. However what was interested was, that a majority of the pax were connecting onward to 9w code share flights on QF, GA,NH, KE and VN. I myself was flying onward to CGK on a 9W codeshare flight with GA. With Jetstar and Fiji codeshare, these numbers are bound to grow.

I am not sure if the BLR-SIN O&D numbers are sufficient to sustain a daily flight for 6E.

9W indeed is banking on code shares ex-SIN to fill up the wide body flights from DEL/BOM and the 737 from BLR. Even I wonder if the O&D is enough to sustain daily considering that not all OD will shift_________________www.networkthoughts.in

BREAKING: - IndiGo to induct 50 ATR72-600s as a part of their expansion plan for FY2017-18

* Turboprops operations expected to commence from the end of 2017.
* Negotiated with ATR to give flexibility to reduce deliveries in case there is a change of situation
* Plans to have 7 ATR72-600 aircraft by March 2018, and 20 ATR72-600s by December 2018
* No word on the expected routes or destinations.

Domestic market leader IndiGo today announced that it has signed a term sheet with turbo prop manufacturer ATR for 50 ATR72-600 aircraft. The first seven aircraft are expected to join the fleet this financial year and the airline expects to take the fleet to 20 aircraft by end of 2018. The airline would bid for routes under UDAN – The Regional Connectivity Scheme.

The first ATR72-600 was delivered to launch carrier Royal Air Maroc in 2011. The biggest change in the ATR72-600 over its earlier version -500 is the new avionic suite and “Glass cockpit” replacing the Honeywell-Collins deck with avionics from Thales.

Term-sheet or a Letter of Intent (LOI) is a legal document which finalizes the basics including price and other incentives. This is also followed up with a small payment. The term sheet specifies the target date for the final signing of documentation. In the past the LOI between Airbus and IndiGo had lapsed but the airline went ahead and placed the order based on the previous LOI, thanks primarily to the relations between Airbus and IndiGo.

The airline expected to close fiscal year 2018 with 170 aircraft, an increase of 39 aircraft over the fiscal end of 2017. The airline will continue to face challenges for expanding in one of the fastest growing but plagued by congestion at all major airports._________________www.networkthoughts.in

BREAKING: - IndiGo to induct 50 ATR72-600s as a part of their expansion plan for FY2017-18

* Turboprops operations expected to commence from the end of 2017.
* Negotiated with ATR to give flexibility to reduce deliveries in case there is a change of situation
* Plans to have 7 ATR72-600 aircraft by March 2018, and 20 ATR72-600s by December 2018
* No word on the expected routes or destinations.

BREAKING: - IndiGo to induct 50 ATR72-600s as a part of their expansion plan for FY2017-18

* Turboprops operations expected to commence from the end of 2017.
* Negotiated with ATR to give flexibility to reduce deliveries in case there is a change of situation
* Plans to have 7 ATR72-600 aircraft by March 2018, and 20 ATR72-600s by December 2018
* No word on the expected routes or destinations.

Battle Royale for Tier 2,3, and 4 cities is well and truly beginning... Will be interesting to see how Jet Airways and Spicejet reacts. Small time players will simply vanish..._________________http://airliners1.com

BREAKING: - IndiGo to induct 50 ATR72-600s as a part of their expansion plan for FY2017-18

* Turboprops operations expected to commence from the end of 2017.
* Negotiated with ATR to give flexibility to reduce deliveries in case there is a change of situation
* Plans to have 7 ATR72-600 aircraft by March 2018, and 20 ATR72-600s by December 2018
* No word on the expected routes or destinations.

Indian low-cost carrier IndiGo this month (June 2017) continues its service expansion on domestic routes, mainly focusing on flights to/from Bangalore and Hyderabad.
Planned service increase as follow.

IndiGo has submitted its expression of interest (EOI) for buying Air India.

Aviation minister Jayant Sinha said that IndiGo's was the first "unsolicited" formal offer for AI.
"A number of domestic and international players have informally approached us to show interest in AI. IndiGo is the first one to do so formally," Sinha said.

Aviation secretary RN Choubey said AI has huge value and will find many takers.

An IndiGo spokesperson said: "We are observing a silent period, therefore we have no comments to make."

Jayant Sinha had said that it made "economic and sentimental" sense to retain the AI brand name in case of change of ownership. Choubey said the government may ask for retaining of the brand name AI.

All players interested in buying the ailing airline will have to make formal bids when the process starts. _________________

Why Indigo should bid Air India which is full service airline with legacy culture and does not fit into Indigo business plan ( in spite of government taking over losses before sale ) … This may be very strategic move from Indigo for long term gain ..

Indigo is leader in Indian aviation and has only one rival which is operating without any commercial consideration ( Loss being funded by government of India ) . It is interest of Indigo that this Government funded airline is replaced by private airline which needs to operate … and fight at equal level playing fields as Indigo ..
This will give Indigo advantage as they are leader in their cost base …

This move has following effect

- Interest from airline like Indigo at early stage will vindicate government move for privatization and give boost take this action forward .. This will ensure that privatization effort is not derailed
- This will also ensure that Air India is not sold on direct negotiation with one entity and competition may increase valuation of Air India . A higher sale value of Air India only help Indigo as new company cost base will be high …
- This may result in Sale being offered in three parts … International , domestic and regional where Indigo may only bid for regional to enable it consolidate it position in proposed regional operation which may have highest growth ,.. in near future …. Jet is vacating regional operation and with Air India regional market they get pole start …

End of the day …. Indigo may not buy Air India but will get biggest gain from Air India privatization_________________Mig

By now you would have seen the media reports regarding IndiGo’s expression of interest in Air India. Understandably, many of you have started asking me if it’s really true?!

We have indeed submitted a letter to the Government of India today on this subject and had to file that letter (attached) with the stock exchanges.

You, the employees of IndiGo, must take great pride in having created a phenomenal world class airline, which is now in many ways a national asset. We are truly a Made in India story!

Our interest in Air India is primarily in its international operations. Over the past decade, we have created a significant domestic network and that gives us the confidence to build a world class international airline in the scale and scope of some of the largest airlines in the world. Without our domestic feed network, it just does not make sense to embark on this journey and if we do go down this path, it would require significant restructuring of the acquired operations. In that journey, we are not going to take on debts and liabilities that could not be supported by the new restructured operations.

Let me be very clear that if it is not profitable and does not add value to our employees, customers and shareholders, we will not embark on this journey. At the same time, we recognize that the Indian Government is taking a big, much needed decision and it is important that this decision is always remembered as a huge success.

As one of those who bleeds blue and who has helped build this great organization, you can rest assured that your Leadership team and the founders of IndiGo will never do anything to jeopardize what you helped build and will always act in the best interest of IndiGo!

IndiGo keen to buy only international operations of Air India, does not want to take over its debt

July 6, 2017

IndiGo today sought to allay investor fears about overstretching its balance sheet in its attempt to acquire the beleaguered national carrier Air India, while outlining the benefits that would accrue to it after the buyout of only the latter’s’ international operations.

IndiGo is not looking at acquiring all of Air India’s businesses, Rahul Bhatia, co-founder of IndiGo and Group Managing Director of its parent Interglobe Enterprises said in a conference call on Thursday. The airline is interested in buying only the international operations of Air India and its budget operations ‘Air India Express’, Rahul Bhatia added.

IndiGo said today that Air India would give it access to closed international markets, and can significantly contribute to IndiGo’s international revenues. Further, IndiGo also said that if it were to acquire international operations of Air India, the airline would not continue to operate it the same way, in an ostensible reference to the ‘Maharaja’s’ high cost operating model. IndiGo said it will enter into the international market with its existing low-cost model._________________

IndiGo keen to buy only international operations of Air India, does not want to take over its debt

July 6, 2017

IndiGo today sought to allay investor fears about overstretching its balance sheet in its attempt to acquire the beleaguered national carrier Air India, while outlining the benefits that would accrue to it after the buyout of only the latter’s’ international operations.

IndiGo is not looking at acquiring all of Air India’s businesses, Rahul Bhatia, co-founder of IndiGo and Group Managing Director of its parent Interglobe Enterprises said in a conference call on Thursday. The airline is interested in buying only the international operations of Air India and its budget operations ‘Air India Express’, Rahul Bhatia added.

IndiGo said today that Air India would give it access to closed international markets, and can significantly contribute to IndiGo’s international revenues. Further, IndiGo also said that if it were to acquire international operations of Air India, the airline would not continue to operate it the same way, in an ostensible reference to the ‘Maharaja’s’ high cost operating model. IndiGo said it will enter into the international market with its existing low-cost model.

Rajat Bhatia sounds as dimwitted as they come. His exhalted father-in-law ain't going to be impressed.

When you buy a company , you acquire both its assets and liabilities.

And it is not like AI's international operations are running profitably._________________I don't know which is the more pampered bunch : AI's widebodies (the aunties) or Jet's widebodies (the planes).
-Jasepl

IndiGo keen to buy only international operations of Air India, does not want to take over its debt

July 6, 2017

IndiGo today sought to allay investor fears about overstretching its balance sheet in its attempt to acquire the beleaguered national carrier Air India, while outlining the benefits that would accrue to it after the buyout of only the latter’s’ international operations.

IndiGo is not looking at acquiring all of Air India’s businesses, Rahul Bhatia, co-founder of IndiGo and Group Managing Director of its parent Interglobe Enterprises said in a conference call on Thursday. The airline is interested in buying only the international operations of Air India and its budget operations ‘Air India Express’, Rahul Bhatia added.

IndiGo said today that Air India would give it access to closed international markets, and can significantly contribute to IndiGo’s international revenues. Further, IndiGo also said that if it were to acquire international operations of Air India, the airline would not continue to operate it the same way, in an ostensible reference to the ‘Maharaja’s’ high cost operating model. IndiGo said it will enter into the international market with its existing low-cost model.

Rajat Bhatia sounds as dimwitted as they come. His exhalted father-in-law ain't going to be impressed.

When you buy a company , you acquire both its assets and liabilities.

And it is not like AI's international operations are running profitably.

True but the government (or the seller) can retain some of the liability either through negotiating with the banks or paying down the debt from the sale proceeds. What he is saying is actually what I would expect any sane purchaser. Ai's total debt doesn't match what it should be for an ongoing concern. I hope the GOI is willing to fix the debt load at sale. Goal should be to have AI be in a shape to succeed, not to fail after the sale.

The last two weeks have been exciting times for Indian Aviation. The union cabinet gave its nod to privatise National carrier Air India and Secretary Civil Aviation Mr. R N Choubey informed that IndiGo has expressed interest in the National carrier. I have closely followed IndiGo since inception and have many a times predicted their next steps including routes, strategies and expansions. However, I must admit that I expected the airline to have a long haul plan in place before they would move to the turboprops. In reality it was the reverse, probably because of UDAN – the Regional Connectivity Scheme of the government.

My post on IndiGo signs term sheet for 50 ATR72-600 did mention the potential launch of long haul services with A330neo or A350 and it looks like the time has now come for that order._________________www.networkthoughts.in

After engine issues, about half of IndiGo's Airbus Neo grounded over GST confusion

July 12, 2017

While the nation seems to be confused over the Goods and Services Tax and the things it is applicable to, low-cost carrier IndiGo Airlines seems to be no different. Almost half the airlines' Airbus A-320 new engine option (Neo) have been grounded due to engine issues and GST seems to have created more confusion for the carrier in terms of import charges.

The low-cost carrier has 22 A-320 Neo aircraft, out of which nine have been grounded as the engines have been facing issues. "We continue to face operational issues with the Neo engine.... While this has caused operational disruptions, both PW and Airbus are working to address the issues," the Times of India quoted IndiGo spokesperson Ajay Jasra as saying.

"In the meantime, we continue to receive the necessary operational and technical support including the provision of spare engines to help mitigate the operational impact on us."

IndiGo and another budget carrier GoAir use the Pratt & Whitney engine in India and after the trouble that the airlines have been facing, PW has been either rectifying or replacing these engines. "PW is facing this issue on the A-320 Neos globally. Due to this, it is unable to supply replacement engines at the required pace. Also, there are some changes in the modifications that were being carried out on the replacement engines. So, the result is that the airlines using the A-320 Neo with PW engines are suffering," said a TOI source.

Additionally, the GST, which came into effect on July 1, created confusion for the airlines over customs duty and other payments, when they import these engines. "We also faced some issues this month in getting some engines cleared at the customs post the implementation of GST," Jasra said but added that the confusion was cleared after the government exempted leased aircraft from the 5 percent GST levy.

Another lovely analysis, Sir!
Neat points about the regional and international part, and the basic strategy difference in Indigo's LCC strategy in a domestic setting vis-a-vis an international one.
Interesting idea about the hiving off of the regional and domestic parts.
And once again, a very informed opinion in the tailpiece.
I look forward to the AI one!
Cheers, Sumantra.

IndiGo Airlines (6E, Delhi Int'l) has grounded at least seven of its A320neo aircraft over ongoing problems with the Pratt & Whitney PW1100 geared turbofan engines. Analysis of FlightRadar24 ADS-B data shows that the following aircraft have been in Delhi for at least the past ten days:

Replacement engines have been slow in coming to the Indian low-cost carrier, as the engine-maker needs to prioritise new aircraft coming off the production line. "PW is facing this issue on the A320neos globally. Due to this, it is unable to supply replacement engines at the required pace," an unnamed source told The Times of India.

In April, the Chief Financial Officer of Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac), Harald Wilhelm, bemoaned the turbofan engines, which are causing delays to the delivery of the A320neo. Reuters reports that Wilhelm is not satisfied with the demonstrated performance of the engines and was still waiting on proof of a technical solution to the problems.

As previously reported, the PW1100 geared turbofans have presented several issues, namely combustion chamber issues and a problem with the one of the bearings. The Indian aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) earlier this year ordered examinations of the engines, which are also used by GoAir (G8, Mumbai Int'l).

IndiGo pilots operating the A320neo aircraft were advised in May to observe a maximum altitude of 30,000 feet whenever practicable, and to carry additional fuel.

Pratt & Whitney is paying compensation to Indian airline IndiGo as the manufacturer struggles to fix glitches in engines that power Airbus SE’s new A320neo planes.

“We continue to have a higher number of engine removals, and sufficient spare engines have not been available,” IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh said on a conference call on Monday. “The operational disruptions are quite challenging, and we are not happy with that situation.”

The airline, operated by InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., was forced to ground as many nine new A320neo jets on some days, Ghosh said. It may be a year or so before Pratt & Whitney implements design changes to the geared turbofan, he said, declining to comment on the amount, mode or the timing of the compensation.

“A320neos have not been delivered as per the plan with Airbus,” Interglobe Aviation Chief Financial Officer Rohit Philip said, adding it is hurting the company’s profitability. “To make up for the shortfall, we had to go to the aircraft-leasing market, and had to enter into short-term leases for used A320s.”_________________

IndiGo would replace the industry’s traditional sale-and-leaseback model for aircraft financing with outright purchases for some of its future fleet additions, underscoring the focus on cutting total ownerships expenses by the low-cost airline that Monday posted the biggest-ever quarterly profit in Indian aviation.

The adoption of the new business model, according to senior executives at the country’s largest carrier, would help IndiGo lower overall costs of fleet ownership. ET had reported six days ago that an imminent change in global accounting standards will, among other things, impact IndiGo's aircraft lease rental strategy the most, and said that the new norms may prompt carriers to making outright purchases.

Chief financial officer Rohit Philip said IndiGo will shift to a model of outright purchase. Aircraft kept in the fleet for long are better owned than leased as direct ownership leads to cost optimisation, he said.

Analysts have typically attributed IndiGo's robust earnings and cash-flow also to smartly crafted aircraft orders and sale and leaseback deals.

Voluminous orders have given it heavy discounts on asset prices and maintenance rates. Conversely, short sale and leaseback agreements have ensured that aircraft are phased out before they get too old. _________________

IndiGo is planning to bring smaller towns into its orbit with ATR-72 planes, according to the schedule submitted by the airline to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

The airline has sought DGCA's approval to operate 85 daily flights with its new ATR-72 planes to Tier II cities, which can act as a feeder to its main routes. Some destinations IndiGo is planning to fly to are Gorakhpur, Allahabad, Shirdi, Bhuj, Bhopal, Gwalior, Vijayawada, and Tirupati.

Simultaneously, the airline plans to deploy ATR-72 planes on some routes that are mostly in north-eastern states and currently served by the Airbus A320.

In its filing, IndiGo has indicated it will launch regional operations between Hyderabad and Nagpur from November 10. While Hyderabad and Nagpur will be its southern and western hubs, the airline plans to cover the east and north-eastern region from Kolkata and Delhi.

"The destinations are all either religious or industrial hubs, there will be no shortage of traffic and IndiGo will have the advantage of having extensive connectivity to become the carrier of choice in these routes," a rival airline official told BS.

IndiGo's proposal will be taken up for approval by the civil aviation regulator later this month. The management has said commercial operations will start by the end of this year, and the airline will have seven ATR planes by next March._________________

IndiGo today cancelled 84 flights as it grounded more of its Airbus A320 planes over issues relating to availability of engines.

The InterGlobe Aviation-run IndiGo, which had grounded nine A320 neo (new engine option) planes due to issues regarding its Pratt & Whitney engines in June quarter, has grounded four more aircraft taking the total number of AOG (aircraft on ground) to 13, aviation sources told .

Of these, 11 aircraft (VT-IFC, VT-IXN, VT-ITB, VT-ITS, VT-ITF, VT-ITM, VT-ITP, VT-ITJ, VT-IFM, VT-ITO and VT-ITG) are grounded in Delhi, while one plane each has been grounded at Hyderabad and Chennai, the sources said, adding 84 flights were cancelled today.

IndiGo, which is the country's leading air carrier, however, released two statements to explain its position. It said there is no "new development" pertaining to the grounding of neos.

In the first statement, IndiGo said that its eight neos are grounded and it had already factored in the impact of the grounding of these planes in its July-September schedule.

"This is to clarify that our 8 neos are grounded. Our schedule was planned in the month of June itself pertaining to non-availability of these aircraft for the month of July, August and September. The affected passengers have already been accommodated with suitable options," it said.

In the second statement, the airline said four of its Airbus 320(current engine option-ceo) aircraft are "grounded" due to the engines being stuck at the Customs.

"We are awaiting certain clarifications post the implementation of GST, which has led to unplanned flight cancellations. All passengers have been informed of the changes and accommodated accordingly.

There is no new development pertaining to the grounding of neos. As mentioned in our June earning's call, there were instances where 9 neos were grounded due to inadequate spare engines. At present, 8 neos are grounded because of the unavailability of spare engines. These have already been factored in our revised schedule which was finalized in June and there are no additional flight cancellations on account of these neos," it said.